Conventional wisdom holds that "friendship and money don't mix," but a group of 12 buddies from in and around Toronto might disagree after winning more than $1 million together playing the lottery.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) announced this week that 12 electricians from the GTA matched all seven ENCORE numbers — in the exact correct order — after only eight months of playing together as a team.

In addition to the seven-figure ENCORE win, the group also won $20 on their LOTTO 6/49 selection, bringing their total single-day winnings up to $1,000,020.

The winning ticket was purchased at a Petro Canada store on Burnhamthorpe Road in Etobicoke ahead of the Dec. 17, 2022 LOTTO 6/49 draw.

The group of 12 electricians have been playing the lottery together for eight months.

"I checked the ticket on the OLG App and when I saw the $1 million prize amount, I was so excited, I couldn't believe it," said Tomasz Polanowski of Etobicoke when visiting the OLG Prize Centre in Toronto. "Johnny is the first one I called to share the news."

"He called me and sent a screenshot of the win. I thought, 'Yep, that's $1 million,'" said John Veshovski of Brampton. "It feels fantastic! There's no other way to describe it."

Michael Gavros of Richmond Hill says he almost didn't pick up the phone when he saw his friend calling that day.

"I was wondering why he was calling me on a Sunday," he told OLG. "But I was very excited to hear the news."

The prize will be split equally between Polanowski, Veshovski, Gavros and the other members of their 12-electrician-strong group, including: Damien Miller of Oshawa, Daniel Markovic of Burlington, Giovanni Serrao of Woodbridge, Gregory Stauch of Toronto, Michael Louie of Toronto, Michael Rossl of Everett, Nuno Costa of Etobicoke, Ryan Kanhai of Whitby and Thomas Prce of Mississauga.

Price told the OLG that he plans to use his portion of the winnings on a trip to Egypt, while Kanhai said similarly that he hopes to go on a vacation "somewhere warm."

Others say they'll put their funds toward bills, home renovations, savings, investments and, of course, travel. If writing about lottery winners has taught me anything, it's that people are more keen on travelling than anything else when hit with an unexpected windfall.